科学研究

Wei Shi is an Associate Professor and Deputy Dean at the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Jinan University. His research interests include microeconometrics and urban economics, focusing on the theory and applications in topics such as social networks and peer effects. His research has been published in leading economics journals such as International Economic Review, Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Population Economics, and Journal of Urban Economics. He received grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Education of China. He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the Ohio State University in 2016.

This paper proposes a nonlinear network mediated interactions model, where the marginal utility of one's action depends on interactions between actions of multiple connected units. The model can be applied to study social interactions in activities that require the participation of mutual friends, or when the strength of interaction effects depends endogenously on the local activity levels. We provide conditions under which the model admits a unique Nash equilibrium. The parameters are estimated by maximum likelihood and we show that the estimator is consistent and asymptotically normal, using recently developed limit theorems for spatial near-epoch dependent processes. The finite sample properties of the estimator are evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations. As an empirical application, we apply the model to examine peer effects in classrooms using data from several primary schools in China. We find that the strength of peer influences in cognitive outcomes depends on the levels of cognitive abilities among friends, and this can be strengthened by encouraging students completing tasks in teams.